April 16, 2007
(Akwesasne, Ontario) On April 12th, 2007, at 11:55 a.m., an officer from the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service located an abandoned 1997 Ford F150 truck that was off the road and in the ditch on Old School Road in Akwesasne, Ontario. The officer then observed that the truck was loaded with cases of contraband cigarettes. Officers from the Central St. Lawrence Valley RCMP detachment were contacted and they attended the scene to seize the contraband cigarettes. The truck was heavily damaged and was removed from the ditch by the Akwesasne Mohawk Police.
Seized from the truck were 2,440 re-sealable bags of white filtered cigarettes worth a value of $53,680. This represents a total of 488,000 cigarettes that were manufactured in the United States and smuggled into Canada. The driver of the truck was not located and no one was injured as a result of this accident. The truck is registered to a female resident of Buckshot Road in Akwesasne, Ontario.
Officers noticed that this load of cigarettes was not hidden at all from the sight of police or residents. The illicit tobacco market involves a broad range of criminal organizations. These organizations will take necessary measures to ensure their illegal product gets sold and are often brazen with the methods they use to smuggle.
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Sgt. Michael Harvey
Central St. Lawrence Valley RCMP Detachment
(613)937-2831
Chief of Police Lewis Mitchell
Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service
(613)575-2340